Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lowe's Needs a Lesson in Customer Service

I am so completely disenchanted with Lowe's. I *thought* they were a reputable and reliable company, but the way they handle customer service has forced me to re-evaluate that idea. In the last year or so, we've purchased 3 major appliances from them - washer, dryer, and dishwasher. The delivery of the washer and dryer was a nightmare. Twice they scheduled delivery and then didn't show up. I had to call the store and find out that the dryer wasn't in yet, so they couldn't deliver. Excuse me? Maybe you should actually CALL me and let me know this so I am not sitting around all day waiting??? A month after I was supposed to receive the set, they finally delivered it to me. Not too impressive, eh?

Well, now we fast forward to today. My dishwasher (it's a Samsung - NEVER NEVER NEVER buy anything they make as they are JUNK!!!!!) broke down on Sunday. I called Lowe's because we have their "Service Advantage" (HA!) program. It took forever to get everything set up because they apparently don't keep any record of you unless you have this one specific number from your receipt from purchase. If you don't have that, don't bother calling. I did finally locate all the information and they told me that I had an appointment on Tuesday between 8 and 5. I was assured of the confirmation of this date.

Today, being Tuesday, I have arranged my entire schedule so that I can be home all day. I decided to contact the servicing company to inquire if they could possibly narrow down the time to maybe morning or afternoon. After being on hold awhile, they told me they had no record of me. Huh???? So I called Lowe's back. After some "research" (and more hold time), she tells me that there wasn't any availability for today. I asked her when they learned this, and she told me yesterday. So I asked her, don't you think that you might have wanted to let ME know this information?????? They never bothered to reschedule or contact me or do ANYTHING at all! They just left it there, and there was no follow up scheduled in any way. What the flip kind of customer service is that????

After a few more times on hold and being assured that "this never happens," (gosh - why do I truly doubt that?) she told me that I would have service on Thursday. So I'm hand-washing dishes even longer because of the stupidity and lack of service at Lowe's. Hmmm....maybe if they had any inkling of how to take care of their customers, they could have called me yesterday and scheduled something for tomorrow??

I am just plain disgusted with Lowe's at this point. They have no follow-up at all and really don't seem to care at all if their customers receive any service. And do they offer anything for their blatant error? Of course not! Just....well, we got you scheduled for Thursday, and so what if you have to change your entire schedule for another full day? I think they should at least send someone here to wash my dishes! Yeah, that's not going to happen, but seriously, after this experience, I will never buy another major appliance from Lowe's. There are many other companies out there that might actually contact their customers if there is a problem. I'll be giving someone else a try. Lowe's doesn't get a third chance to make a good impression.